Page 8B
BOOKS
From the High Plains, by John Fisher
(Harper & Row, $10.00)
A native of the High Plains of Texas, John Fisher
used family papers, recollections of relatives, and a
few printed sources to compile the series of episodes
which make up this volume. Much of the book deals
with Fisher’s family and the activities of his ancestors
and relatives. The author traces his maternal grand
parents, the Capertons, from Alabama to Texas and
his mother from Texhoma, where she taught school
and married John S. Fisher.
Other sections of the book deal with Col. Charles
Goodnight, his ranch, and other ranches on the High
Plains, mostly financed with British capital; the set
tlement of and activities at Tascosa including the
“ladies of the evening” who resided in the suburb,
Hogstown; Joseph F. Glidden, most successful in
ventor of barbed wire; and the Indian Chief Geronimo
whose real name was Goyakla. The final two chap
ters deal with the discovery of oil and gas on the H/gb
Plains and the current and future problems of water
shortage.
Anyone unfamiliar with the High Plains will find the
book interesting and informative. Those who already
know something about the area will probably gain
something from Fisher’s first and second hand ac
counts of “the hard men, high spirited women—and a
few rascals-who settled the last frontier of the Old
West.”
-Charles R. Schultz
The Times of My Life, by Betty Ford,
with Chris Chase
(Harper and Row, $10-95)
Having admired Betty Ford ever since she and
her family were thrust into prominence after the
Watergate episode, | was interested to learn that
she was writing her mernoirs. The excerpts in the
women’s magazines left me cold, but happily, the
book as a whole dirj net
From growing up in Grand Rapids, Mich, to sign
ing herself in to the Long Beach Naval Hospital’s
Alcohol and Drug Rehabilitation Service, Mrs Ford
writes of things that have happened to her along the
way. Some are funny. One day on Air Force One,
the flight began to get rough. She just happened to
be in the plane’s washroom. A secret service man
started to pound on the door and told her to sit
down. Mrs. Ford yelled back, “I am sitting down!”
Some episodes are sad-waiting at Arlington Na
tional Cemetary for John F. Kennedy's funerai cor
tege. Other times she simply records day to day
events. The book is not earthshaking, but it is fun to
read about Betty Bloomer, the dancer, the courtship
of Jerry and Betty, the antics that four active chil
dren can produce, the trip to China, the White
House guests and state dinners. It is also refreshing
to read of a strong woman who is not afraid to admit
she made some mistakes along the way. The last
chapter about her dependency on pills and alcohol
is especially candid.
Take a break from studying. If you enjoy biog
raphies or autobiographies, you’ll like The Times of
My Life. -Linda Dreier
Bestsellers
Bryan s n
in the sti
FICTION
1. War and Remembrance —
Herman Wouk
2. Chesapeake — James A.
Michener
3. Second Generation —
Howard Fast
4. Overload — Arthur Hailey
5. The Stories of John Cheever
— John Cheever
6. Evergreen — BeYva Plain
7. The Coup — John Updike
8. Fools Die — Mario Puzo
9. The World According to
Garp — John Irving
10. Silmarillion — J.R.R. Tol
kien
NONFICTION
1. Mommie Dearest -Cte
ina Crawford
2. A Distant Mirror - Ba*.
Tuchman
3. Lauren Bacall; 8/%',
Lauren Bacall
4. American Caesar-
Manchester
5. Linda Goodman's Ln
Signs — Linda Goodit?!
6. The Complete ‘
Medical Diet — Hermanfl
Tarnower and Sam
Sinclair Baker
7. In Search of History
Theodore White
8. The Complete Bookolk\
ning — James Fixx
9. If Life Is a Bowl ofC/iemn
What Am I Doing in the fa
— Erma Bombeck
10. Nurse — Peggy Anded
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MUSIC
Rock may harm muscles
By Patricia McCormack
United Press International
Rock music makes your mus
cles weak — right?
Right, according to Dr. John
Diamond, who claims he has
proof, and who describes the de
bilitating effect of rock as “a
worldwide problem."
Diamond, a psychiatrist and
president of the International
Academy of Preventive Medicine,
says he has tested more than
20,000 records for their effect on
muscle strength.
“Not all rock numbers have this
(weakening) effect, nor does a
particular group necessarily have
the effect consistehtly,” Diamond
declares in his new book, BK-
Behavioral Kinesiology. “Groups
and singers that tend to weaken
our muscles are the Doors, the
Band, Janis Joplin, Queen,
America, Alice Cooper,
Bachman-Turner Overdrive, and
Led Zeppelin. In contrast, the
Beatles never do.
“We are talking strictly about
certain types of rock music, he
added. “Rock and roll, country
and western, jazz and other mus
ical styles do not have this ef
fect.”
The psychiatrist theorizes that
rock music has a stopped quality
that was not present in rock and
roll. He explains that in rock
music, the beat is stopped at the
end of each bar or measure.
“It is as if the music stops and
then has to start again, and the
listener subconsciously comes to
the halt at the end of each mea
sure. This suggests an explana
tion for the weakening effect of
rock music. Of course, there may
be others.”
Diamond, founder and director
of the Institute of Behavioral
Kinesiology in New York, main
tains that tests and experiments
show classical music — except in
two instances — does not pro
duce muscle weakness. Just the
opposite.
The psychiatrist theorizes that
the beat of most classical music
can invigorate, energize and bal
ance humans. He thinks this has
something to do with the long
lives of classical music conduc
tors.
“The average age of death of
the American male is 68.9 years,”
he reports. “Yet at 70, some 80
percent of conductors are still
alive and working.”
He said Arturo Toscanini, who
died at 89, “possessed what
musicians who worked with him
have called an intensity, an inner
fire, an electricity, a magnetism.
His face was almost unlined, and
the white teeth he flashed were
his own. On the podium he was
vigorous and erect; when he
walked his step was light and
buoyant. Into his seventies, he
hadn't seen a doctor in years.”
The trend also extends to clas
sical music performers. Diamond
said. He once tested a pianist in
the early sixties and found him to
be as strong as he looked.
"I asked him the secret to his
good health and, without hesita
tion, he replied, I eat good food. I
sit up straight, and I have good
music coming at me all day.”
TOP TEN ALBUMS
1. Billy Joel — SPnd Street
2. Blues Brother^ —Briefcase
Full of Blues
3. Barbara Streisand —
Greatest Hits, Vol. II
4. Neil Diamond — You Don’t
Bring Me Flowers
5. Rod Stewart — Blondes
Have More Fun
6. Earth, Wind & Fire — The
Best of Earth, Wind & Fire
7. Chic — C’est Chic
8. Eric Clapton — Backless
9. Barry Manilow — Greatest
Hits
10. Foreigner — Double Vis
ion
Joseph Donaldson
A LIMITED RETROSPECTIVE
Drawings & Paintings 1940-1979
February 5-28, 1979
J. Earl Rudder Exhibit Hall Texas A&M University
Sponsored by University Art Exhibits
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